TAMPA, Fla. — Though it’s been over a 12 months, LaMaria Smith stated the nightmare feels adore it used to be the day before today.
“Life is supposed to be about family, fun, love, not going to a graveyard to see your kid,” stated Smith.
Smith’s daughter, 21-year-old Savannah Mathis, used to be shot and killed whilst riding close to Julian B. Lane Park in Dec. 2021. The thriving nursing pupil’s lifestyles used to be long past from mindless gun violence.
“When I walk into her room, I’m still telling myself she’s just out of town. She’ll be back,” stated Smith.
It’s a continual drawback impacting communities all over the place. Smith weighed in on the President’s recent action on gun violence.
“I truly appreciate it. I really do. As a parent of a child dying to senseless gun violence, it lets me know that somebody actually cares what we’re going through,” stated Smith.
“In 2022, we saw over 300 shootings in both Tampa and Hillsborough County combined, that included non-fatal and fatal shootings,” stated Freddy Barton, the Executive Director of Safe and Sound Hillsborough, the violence prevention collaborative of Hillsborough County.
Barton stated closing 12 months, Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners issued a grant award of $200,000 so they might release a gun violence prevention initiative.
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“The second part of that component is creating a community response team that if a shooting happens in any part of the county, we’re going to deploy volunteers to go work with those families who are going through that moment of crisis,” stated Barton. “We’re actually at the facility that houses our youth gun offender program that we keep those kids who are committing these offenses using guns or weapons for six months and hope to turn them around and then monitor them for another six months.”
The group even has a short film on gun violence premiering Monday evening on the Tampa Theatre, adopted through a group dialog.
“It didn’t happen overnight. It’s not going to be solved overnight, but we have to be strapped in for the long-haul,” stated Barton.
Until there’s an finish to the violence, households proceed to wish for peace.
“I pray, but it’ll take a village,” stated Smith.